caitlin mcdermott murphy

3 min read 2021-12-07 05:28:37

Daniel Kahneman on how to influence others

How do you convince someone to do something they don’t want to do? Like, for example, get vaccinated, reject prejudices, or accept your terms?

3 min read 2021-12-02 21:30:21

Wakanda, the mythical setting for Marvels’ superhero film “Black Panther,” is home to some not-so-mythical technology. An indestructible cape

1 min read 2021-11-17 04:25:46

In some ways, says Ritu Raman, an inchworm is similar to a smartphone. Both are machines — one living, one not — that can sense changes in their

1 min read 2021-10-27 01:58:38

After the pandemic closed schools last year, hospitals saw a surge in mental health-related emergency visits among children 18 and under. The

1 min read 2021-09-28 04:23:11

In the next six months, it’s likely that every American will be vaccinated, recovered from coronavirus infection, or both. If that happens, cases

4 min read 2021-04-17 02:52:19

Sugar has been called “evil,” “toxic,” and “poison.” But the body needs sugars, too. Sugar molecules help cells recognize and fight

4 min read 2021-03-05 05:24:57

When people hear botulinum toxin, they often think of either the cosmetic that makes frown lines disappear or the deadly poison. But the “miracle

4 min read 2021-02-27 03:22:05

In elementary school, Orvin Pierre ’22 was playing basketball outside on a concrete court with two friends when one, Omari, went up for a lay-up,

3 min read 2020-08-05 21:00:00

Two plush microbes stare up at everyone who visits Emily Balskus’ office. One, a buttercup yellow, mimics the fuzzy hotdog-shaped E. coli. Another,

4 min read 2020-04-18 05:15:31

Billions of people worldwide marveled at the first image ever captured of a black hole. The photo of the glowing, blurry doughnut, taken by the Event

3 min read 2020-02-18 20:00:40

Everyone seems to have an opinion about which foods to eat or avoid, how to lose weight (and keep it off!), and which superfood to horde. But

4 min read 2020-01-31 03:03:16

Asked to explain decay, some scientists might talk about mold and cheese. Or sugar and teeth. Or bacteria and enzymes. Soon, Frederick Moss might

2 min read 2020-01-29 01:23:46

When the Earth was born, it was a mess. Lightning storms and meteors likely bombarded the planet’s surface, a barren wasteland with little but

4 min read 2019-11-14 04:32:32

The landscape of the illegal drug trade changes constantly, particularly amid the current opioid crisis. Law-enforcement officers regularly find or

5 min read 2019-06-20 01:14:13

The first time a young Vayu Maini Rekdal manipulated microbes, he made a decent sourdough bread, even if he gave little thought to the crucial